Life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy at birth is one of the most widely used and internationally recognised indicators of population health. It focuses on the length of life 1 than its quality, and provides a useful summary of the general health of the population. While an indicator describing how long Australians live that simultaneously takes into account quality of life would be a desirable summary measure of progress in the area, currently no such measure exists, and this is why life expectancy at birth is used as the Main Progress Indicator here. During the decade 1999 to 2009, life expectancy at birth improved for both sexes.

A girl born in 2009 could expect to reach 83.9 years of age, 2 a boy could expect to live to 79. 3 years. Over the decade, boys 'life expectancy increased 3 more than girls'(3. 1 compared with 2. 1 years). This saw the gap between the sexes' life expectancy decrease by one year to 4.6 years.

In the longer term, increases 4 life expectancy also occurred over most of the 20th century. Unfortunately, life expectancy isn't shared across the whole population though, being lower in Tasmania and the northern Territory, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.